402 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



when summoned to join him, " have been on such occasions 

 ever wont to be the first on the field and the last to leave 

 it."* His death was a great blow to the Jacobites, and 

 affected his followers so much, that many of them returned 

 home and took no further part in the insurrection. 



Seaforth does not appear to have played a very dis- 

 tinguished part at Sheriffmuir. According to one account, 

 he remained in the rear, surrounded by forty of his mounted 

 clansmen,-)- who acted as his bodyguard, Lord Duffus 

 having in vain tried to induce him to lead his men on foot. 

 It may have been that by Mar's orders, he attached himself 

 to his own body of horse, instead of leading his infantry ; 

 a mistake, no doubt, but one for which it is difficult to 

 say that he was blameable. A Highland chief employed 

 in cavalry work, does not appeal to the imagination in 

 the same way as a Highland chief heading his unmounted 

 clansmen in a desperate charge. And there can be little 

 doubt that the absence of Lord Seaforth at their head, must 

 have tended to damp the enthusiasm of the Clan Kenneth 

 foot. Among the prisoners taken by Argyll was Colin 

 Mackenzie of Kildun, who was a captain in Fairburn's 

 regiment, and was one of the Lewis officers nominated by 

 Seaforth. J 



After the battle, Mar sent Seaforth north for the purpose 

 of re-capturing Inverness. But the Earl soon perceived 

 that this was a hopeless task, and that his resources would 

 be sufficiently strained to protect his estates from the 

 ravages of the Whig clans. Discouraged by the result of 

 Sheriffmuir, and depressed by the general outlook, the 

 enthusiasm of Seaforth fell to zero, and he was fain to 

 submit, the Earl of Sutherland offering to mediate for 

 him. But the arrival of the Chevalier in Scotland induced 



* Before joining Mar, Clanranald destroyed his Castle of Eilean Tirrim to 

 prevent its falling into the hands of Argyll. Tradition has it that he was shot 

 at Sheriffmuir by one of his own men, who bore him a grudge, and who in 

 view of the belief that the young chief bore a charmed life, used a crooked 

 sixpence to compass his end. 



f That arch-grumbler, the Master of Sinclair, calls them in his sarcastic 

 style, "fortie scrub horse of servants." 



Patten, and Annals of George I. 



